Maddy and Mary Ellen return with a new pairing: two romcoms about two comedians, starting with The Big Sick this week and Obvious Child next week. We loved this movie, and we spend a long time telling you why in this episode, but we also point to some of the criticisms written about it. One article that we refer to in the episode is Imran Siddiquee's "Why Are Brown Men So Infatuated With White Women Onscreen?" (https://www.buzzfeed.com/imransiddiquee/why-are-brown-men-so-infatuated-with-white-women-onscreen?utm_term=.nhW7Mv9aa#.gsnaVXWLL). Give that a read! Then circle back and listen to the rest of our analysis on how this movie navigates themes of forgiveness, learning how to communicate, and saying goodbye forever (but maybe not forever).
P.S. Maddy's audio is kinda staticky at a couple points in this episode, and she did her best to edit around it. She should probably not have bought a used audio mixer on Amazon, but it was cheaper. Forgive us our empty wallets? Thanks <3
Email us at letswatchtwomovies@gmail.com and follow us on Twitter at letswatchtwo, maryellenmurr and MIDImyers! Lastly, please consider tipping us via Patreon: patreon.com/atomicblueproductions

For the first time in the history of this podcast, Maddy and Mary Ellen will NOT be discussing a movie (let alone two movies) in this week's episode. In honor of their 25th episode, they dive into a Q&A with the show's listeners, with one another, and with one of the podcast's most notable detractors: Mary Ellen's father. Strap in for never-before-revealed details about the actual name we wanted to call our podcast, the other movie podcast that we've had a secret beef with this entire time, plus a ton of movie recommendations, shout-outs to everyone ever, stories about bad first dates, and more personal information than your co-hosts have ever shared about themselves on this show before.
Email us at letswatchtwomovies@gmail.com and follow us on Twitter at letswatchtwo, maryellenmurr and MIDImyers! Lastly, please consider tipping us via Patreon: patreon.com/atomicblueproductions

After last week's foray through The Cabin In The Woods, Maddy and Mary Ellen settle in to compare it with The Final Girls, a 2015 meta horror movie that also features five increasingly self-aware teens... plus five other teens who are stock horror movie foils. The Final Girls keeps it simple by navigating the virgin/whore dichotomy, the inherent limitations of the "final girl" narrative, and not much else. Unlike The Cabin In The Woods, The Final Girls doesn't bite off more than it can chew. It's not Maddy and Mary Ellen's favorite movie of all time, but our intrepid co-hosts still think this movie hangs together a bit better than The Cabin In The Woods did.
Oh... and please don't get it mixed up with that other 2015 movie called Final Girl. That movie looks bad.
Email us feedback at letswatchtwomovies@gmail.com and follow us on Twitter at letswatchtwo, maryellenmurr and MIDImyers! Lastly, please consider tipping us via Patreon: patreon.com/atomicblueproductions

Maddy and Mary Ellen watched The Cabin in the Woods, and they deem it to be... fine. The movie's got a couple funny bits, a couple scary bits, and a couple satirical bits, but not quite enough of each of these to make this movie a comedy, a horror, or a satire. It's kind of like this joke about the Black Eyed Peas from The Office (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AiI4lvRbLkU), which we refer to in the episode, for some reason.
We do realize this movie means a lot to people, though, so in spite of not quite seeing the appeal, we put on our analysis hats and talk about horror movie tropes and the larger metaphor in the film about Hollywood movie execs, directors, and the ancient beings (a.k.a. moviegoers) that allegedly strike fear in Hollywood's heart.
Next week, we pair this movie with another meta-commentary on horror movies: The Final Girls!
Email us feedback at letswatchtwomovies@gmail.com and follow us on Twitter at letswatchtwo, maryellenmurr and MIDImyers! Lastly, please consider tipping us via Patreon: patreon.com/atomicblueproductions

Much like Batman v Superman, Captain America: Civil War feels stuck in 2016. Remember a year ago, when Steve Rogers' mistrust of institutions made sense but it still seemed like he was taking it a bit too far? Now it's 2017, and Maddy and Mary Ellen can totally see his side. We just want to run away with our brainwashed boyfriend Bucky and escape all of this.
This episode is long. Do we need to keep saying that? Anyway, tune in as Maddy spends way too much time talking about all the Avengers comics she has read, and Mary Ellen talks about the tiny personal moments in this film that make it more emotionally accessible than Batman v Superman.
Lastly, here's the essay that Maddy mentions during an aside in the episode: https://sublimezoo.com/2016/05/17/black-fictional-lives-matter-too-black-pain-black-death-civil-war/
Email us feedback at letswatchtwomovies@gmail.com and follow us on Twitter at letswatchtwo, maryellenmurr and MIDImyers! Lastly, please consider tipping us via Patreon: patreon.com/atomicblueproductions

In 2016, two superhero movies hit cinemas: one from DC and one from Marvel. Both featured ensemble casts and questions about how the government should legislate superpowers. We're talking about Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, and Captain America: Civil War.
It's only been a year, but these movies already feel dated as heck. First up, Maddy and Mary Ellen look at DC's gritty take on Batman and Superman's showdown, featuring too many dream sequences, ableist side plots, and spurious definitions of masculinity. We watched the Ultimate edition, which purports to make more sense than the theatrical cut, but we don't see how. Next week: Civil War!
Email us feedback at letswatchtwomovies@gmail.com and follow us on Twitter at letswatchtwo, maryellenmurr and MIDImyers! Lastly, please consider tipping us via Patreon: http://patreon.com/atomicblueproductions

Swiss Army Man, also known as The Harry Potter Farting Corpse Movie, might seem like an unusual pairing for Mad Max: Fury Road. But this movie is also about a man lost in the wilderness seeking something to live for... or someone. And that someone is Mr. Harry Potter Farting Corpse. But seriously though, there's a lot more to this movie than jokes about bodily functions. It's also about death (mostly suicide), figuring out what it is to be alive, and falling in love. Maddy and Mary Ellen talked about this movie for three hours, so there's gotta be something to it, right?
Email us at letswatchtwomovies@gmail.com or follow us on Twitter at letswatchtwo!

At long last, Mary Ellen and Maddy have reached the end of their three-part meditation on the merits of Mad Max: Fury Road. Also, our apologies for Maddy's audio quality lowering a bit for a brief section near the beginning of this episode. Thanks for your patience on that. Also for your patience regarding the fact that we just put out three episodes about only one movie.
In the conclusion of LW2M's trio of Fury Road eps, Maddy and Mary Ellen discuss Max and Furiosa's chemistry, the hero worship of dictators (both in fiction and the real world), George Miller's criticism of machismo, the meaning behind the movie's final title card, and the fact that Mad Max: Fury Road is good. It's good! IT'S A GOOD MOVIE. We repeat that, several times, just to be sure you all got it.
Next week: Swiss Army Man!!

Maddy and Mary Ellen continue on their three-part journey through Fury Road, as the pathway turns from sand to swamp for our heroes. We watch as Max and Furiosa grow into their parental roles for the weird family of escapees from Immortan Joe's oppressive influence. Mary Ellen coins the term "Dad Max" to describe this phenomenon. More comparisons to Handmaid's Tale also ensue, as well as comparisons to The Hunger Games. You know what comparison doesn't come up? Swiss Army Man. Not yet, anyway. But we'll get to it eventually, we promise!
Next week: the third and final part of our Mad Max: Fury Road trilogy. Stay tuned...
Until then, feel free to follow us @ letswatchtwo on Twitter and email us at letswatchtwomovies@gmail.com!

For the first time in the history of this podcast, Maddy and Mary Ellen watched a movie whose greatness cannot be contained in just one episode. It can't even be contained in two episodes. For better or worse, the intrepid co-hosts of Let's Watch 2 Movies will be delivering a trinity of episodes about the cinematic masterpiece that is Mad Max: Fury Road. After that, they'll finally reach the movie with which they've paired it, which is Swiss Army Man. In this episode, we cite this video by Lindsay Ellis called "Planting and Payoff - Featuring Mad Max: Fury Road" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PLLGN7zv-3k), as well as this post about how the movie's center-of-frame technique humanizes its characters (http://fandomsandfeminism.tumblr.com/post/121507326334/bonehandledknife-doctorscienceknowsfandom). Thanks for bearing with us as we detail every last facial expression that passes over Tom Hardy's illustrious visage.

Maddy and Mary Ellen wrap up their misandrist pairing of Gone Girl and Hard Candy by reminding everyone that Ellen Page is a great actress. Content warning for, like, every single thing in this movie though. If you don't think you can handle watching a story about pedophilia, rape, torture, murder, emotional manipulation, and [list goes on indefinitely], then feel free to enjoy our detailed recap and analysis of the film... as well as our take on how the real protagonist of Hard Candy is that one Nighthawks cafe worker. What a twist!

Complicated female villains? That's our shit! Gone Girl and Hard Candy have been controversial with critics, but not so much with us... although we can certainly understand why these movies weren't a hit with everyone. Maddy and Mary Ellen kick off the pairing with a deep dive into Gone Girl, gender roles, marriage stereotypes, and the scourge of spermjacking that's haunted our society for generations.

It's been a while since Maddy and Mary Ellen got to watch a movie they actually enjoyed, huh? This week, our co-hosts compare The VVitch with Ex Machina, Alex Garland's thriller about robots, consciousness, and gender roles. Plus there's that great scene where Oscar Isaac and Sonoya Mizuno dance around. During the episode, Maddy shouts out this essay by J.A. Micheline about the movie's themes, which contains a lot of spoilers (much like this episode): http://womenwriteaboutcomics.com/2015/05/21/ex-machina-a-white-feminist-parable-for-our-time/

Episode 13 seems like an appropriate time to watch something spooooookyyyy. How about The Witch (usually styled as The VVitch), a horror movie often hailed as a feminist masterpiece? Unfortunately, Mary Ellen and Maddy aren't sure that interpretation of the movie holds up on scrutiny, but this movie still has some great performances. Especially from Black Phillip. Oh, also, this was our first long-distance recording, so it's not as high-quality as it could be, but next week it'll sound a lot better because we figured out a better way to do it. Next week: EX MACHINA!

After last week's three-hour episode about The Dark Knight, this week's two-hour episode of analysis of The Prestige seems downright reasonable in length, doesn't it? Thank goodness for that, since Mary Ellen and Maddy had to watch both of these movies and record both episodes in one week, due to the way scheduling worked out. This was TOO MUCH NOLAN, folks. Don't try this at home. Anyway, now's a good time to subscribe if you haven't yet; our hosts aren't entirely sure when their next episode will be out, but once it is, you know you won't want to miss it!

WE'RE BACK. After spending several weeks in Marvel jail, Mary Ellen and Maddy return to podcasting to address the blood feud that has haunted the entire run of this show: NOLANNN. Our hosts have chosen to analyze The Dark Knight and The Prestige, in that order. Anyway, did you all know that The Dark Knight is a really long movie? This podcast episode is even longer! We're not sorry. (Okay, we're a little sorry. Listen to it in chunks, or something.) Your reward for making it to the end of the episode will be getting to hear Mary Ellen and Maddy lose their minds over the difference (or lack thereof) between the hero Gotham deserves and the hero Gotham needs. Lastly, we refer to this Clickhole parody video analysis of The Dark Knight roughly 600 times in this episode, so you should probably watch it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oaVG4xIwMQw

This episode starts out innocently enough, with Mary Ellen and Maddy comparing Eric Bana's 2003 turn at the Hulk to Edward Norton's later attempt in 2008, in The Incredible Hulk. However, about halfway in, the episode goes completely off the rails as Maddy and Mary Ellen debate why this movie won't let the Hulk have sex. This episode is an abomination, loaded with two different Hulk serums. That's actually a reference to the 2008 Hulk movie, and it's just as gross as it sounds.

Happy Hulkidays and a Hulky New Year! The 2000s brought us not one, but two Hulk movies--and both of them were deemed unsatisfactory. But why? We must use scientific research to find out. And also magic, and our feelings. Mary Ellen and Maddy kick this pairing off with a very giggly analysis of Eric Bana's attempt at the character in the 2003 film Hulk, directed by Ang Lee. This movie....... is funny. And it's not supposed to be. Whoops.

After last week's divisive episode about Birdman, you'll be relieved to hear that Maddy and Mary Ellen both actually enjoyed the movie this week. Been a while since that happened, huh? Our two co-hosts opine about social media, fame, mental illness, art, and Michael Fassbender's biceps in their lengthy analysis of Frank. At the top of the show, they also read some listener mail about The Big Lebowski. As always, you can share your thoughts and fan-art with us at letswatchtwomovies@gmail.com — and let us know if you want us to, like, get a Twitter or a Tumblr or something.

Get ready for a SHOWDOWN, because Mary Ellen and Maddy do not see eye to eye when it comes to Birdman. This episode marks the start of another two-movie pairing, with the theme of art and mental illness. They've chosen Birdman and Frank, two movies about those themes, as well as movies about the process of creating art and dealing with the response to it. Sometimes, that response isn't good. That's definitely been the case with Birdman, a notoriously divisive movie. Strap in, folks, because this is our longest ep yet.